Houston fire fighters use a borrowed canoe to search for evacuees during extreme flooding in Meyerland, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston.

Houston fire fighters use a borrowed canoe to search for evacuees during extreme flooding in Meyerland, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Houston.

Photo: Mark Mulligan, Staff Photographer

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HFD Capt. Joshua Vogel checks a house with a high waterline while doing welfare checks on residents in the Meyerland area, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Houston.

HFD Capt. Joshua Vogel checks a house with a high waterline while doing welfare checks on residents in the Meyerland area, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Houston.

Photo: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle

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Sharlene Barris begins to cry after seeing HFD Capt. Joshua Vogel, not pictured, while firefighters were doing welfare checks on residents in the Meyerland area, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Houston. Vogel's team evacuated Barris and her husband as waters rose into their home. less

Sharlene Barris, right, begins to cry after seeing HFD Capt. Joshua Vogel, left, while firefighters were doing welfare checks on residents in the Meyerland area, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Houston. Vogel's team evacuated Barris and her husband as waters rose into their home. less

Sharlene Barris, left, begins to cry after seeing HFD Capt. Joshua Vogel, right, while firefighters were doing welfare checks on residents in the Meyerland area, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Houston. Vogel's team evacuated Barris and her husband as waters rose into their home. less

Sharlene Barris, right, begins to cry after seeing HFD Capt. Joshua Vogel, left, while firefighters were doing welfare checks on residents in the Meyerland area, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, in Houston. Vogel's team evacuated Barris and her husband as waters rose into their home. less

Just one high-water rescue vehicle. Decades-old evacuation boats. Sparse training for swift-water rescues. And limited staffing after an 11th-hour decision not to call in major reinforcements to face the catastrophic storm.

The department had been warned. Lethal flooding two years ago exposed shortcomings and prompted sweeping recommendations to improve future responses.

And yet, when firefighters rushed fearlessly into Harvey's currents in late August, they were again hobbled by a lack of resources, old equipment and a shortage of manpower ready to go when the storm hit, according to a Chronicle review of internal reports and emails, and dozens of interviews with firefighters and other officials.

The review found a department - and a city - that failed to follow the hard-earned lessons of previous storms, even as one of the worst in U.S. history descended on the region.